Means for holding eggs during transit.



'No'. 755,434. PATENTBD MAIL. 22; 1904. A. L. & 0. L. BARSTAD. MEANS FORHOLDING EGGS DURING TRANSIT.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 16, 1903;

N0 MODEL.

Fig. 2.

Patented March 22, 1904.

UNITED STATES Urricn.

ALBERT LARSEN BARSTAD AND OLAF LARSEN BARSTAD, OF STAVANGER,

NORWAY.

MEANS FOR HOLDING- EGGS DURING TRANSIT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 755,434, dated March22, 1904.

Application filed September 16, 1903- Serial No. 173,450. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ALBERT LARSEN BAR-5 STAD and OLAF LARSEN BARSTAD,merchants, both of Stavanger, Norway, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Means for Holding Eggs during Transit; and we dohereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact descriptionof the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to letters of reference marked thereon, whichform a part of this specification.

Our invention relates to means of packing eggs in boxes or cases fortransit. For this purpose we propose to employ plates of a stiffmaterial, such as cardboard, in which are pressed, stamped, or otherwiseformed pockets or recesses adapted to receive the eggs. These platesrest upon each other in such a way that the eggs held therein will lieperfectly steady and at the same time be exposed to the possiblylightest pressure. To secure this result, the pockets or recesses arethus formed and situated in the successive plates, lying one upon theother, so that the recesses of one plate will rest upon the planesections remaining between the recesses of the underlying plate, thewhole forming in this Way a perfectly selfsupporting cell structure.

In the accompanying drawings, illustrating our invention, Figure 1 is avertical cross-sectional view of a case holding five layers of eggs;Fig. 2, a top plan view of the same, and Fig. 3 a side view of a numberof nested supporting-plates.

The eggs rest, as above mentioned, on plates Z), having pockets 0,capable of receiving about one-half of an egg when it is laid therein.These plates, with the eggs held in their pockets, are laid one uponanotherin the box or case, the contents of which will form in this Way acompact steady structure in which each egg will not be exposed to morepressure or shock in case of careless treatment during transport thanwhat is due to its own weight. The lowermost plate in the box will restwith the under side of its pockets upon the bottom of the case. Thefollowing plate has its pockets disposed in such a Way as to abutagainst the plane sections between the pockets of the first plate. Thethird plate in its turn has its pockets resting with their under sideupon the second plate and vertically alined, or nearly so, with the eggsof the first plate. Measures may be provided, if desired, to prevent theweight of the eggs in the third layer being transferred directly to theeggs of the first plate or layer by allowing for a narrow space orinterval. above the eggs, as indicated in the drawings. In this way eachlayer of eggs will not have to bear any weight from above, the weight ofthe overlying layers being received by and distributed throughout thecardboard plates. Beneath the lowermost plate in the box it ispreferable to place at the bottom of the latter a layer of cotton orsimilar fibrous yielding material in order to provide a yielding supportalso for the eggs of this layer. Over the uppermost layer of eggs wepreferably lay a plate of the same form as the supporting-plates andhaving pockets 6 formed in it to receive the upper half of the eggs inthe uppermost layer. Such a covering plate may, if desired, be placedupon each successive layer, whereby all the eggs will be perfectlyinclosed.

The supporting-plates in which the pockets or recesses are formedconsist, preferably, of cardboard or a similar stiff material and may beproduced in various ways-for instance,

by pressing or stamping them out of paperpulp. In the drawings the eggsare shown in a lying position; but the recesses might, of course, alsobe arranged so as to hold the eggs in an upright position. The whole setof supporting-plates may be made exactly alike, so that they can be puttogether and form a solid package, as indicated in Fig. 3. The first rowin each direction is given a greater distance from the edge than thelast row, so that upon turning every other plate one hundred and eightydegrees the pockets Will come out of correspondence with each other andthe structure of cells be formed.

The packing arrangementdescribed is particularly simple and cheap andaffords great security during transit, because it permits, in spite ofthe compact packing, of securing a certain elasticity in the cellularstructure. The eggs are protected everywhere by at least a double layerof cardboard. This packing arrangement besides offers the advantage thatthe packing as well as the unpacking of the eggs may be effected readilyand conveniently in such a way as to avoid any risk of breakage duringthis work. The employment of this packing metheol, moreover, permits ofsimultaneously sorting the eggs, the recesses in the cardboard platesoffering convenient measures for this purpose.

' We claim- Nesting plates for packing eggs, each formed of a singlesheet of material having pockets formed therein closed at their bottomsand arranged in rows, the rows of pockets along two adjacent edges ofeach plate being a greater distance from said edges than the rows ofpockets on the other two edges, said pockets being suflicientlydistanced from one another and of such depth that when one plate isturned one hundred and eighty degrees with respect to the plate nextbelow, the bottoms of the pockets of the upper plate will rest on theplane surface of the plate neXt below and between the pockets thereinwithout touching the eggs in said plate, substantially as described.

It witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of twowitnesses.

ALBERT LARSEN BARSTAD. OLAF LARSEN BARSTAD. Witnesses: JAooB B. JoHNsEN,BERTR. CHRISTIANSEN.

